Folks around the area share their experience

DOVER — The community was buzzing with anecdotes Tuesday evening, all generated from a few seconds of what some may consider a once in a lifetime experience in New England.

By SAMANTHA ALLENsallen@fosters.com

DOVER — The community was buzzing with anecdotes Tuesday evening, all generated from a few seconds of what some may consider a once in a lifetime experience in New England.

An “extremely rare” 4.0 magnitude earthquake was felt quivering and shaking throughout the region, stretching from New Hampshire and southern Maine to Massachusetts and Vermont borders, at precisely 7:12 p.m.

At a City Council meeting in Rochester, deliberations were halted, some councilors reporting they had lost cell phone service, while one Chamber of Commerce member jokingly apologized for her presentation being so “earth shattering.”

In Lebanon, Maine, as hundreds of reported calls poured in from concerned citizens, Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole worked to get the message out on Facebook, requesting no more persons flood dispatcher's lines unless they had an “emergency.”

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The event sparked a flurry of tweets and posts through various social media sites. Users of Twitter marked their comments with the hashtag #NHearthquake.

Local politicians reached out through the site, including Democratic state senate candidate Jeffery Ballard, in Brookfield, and Colin Van Ostern, a Concord Democrat running for an Executive Council seat.

“It felt very strong in Brookfield and was very loud!” Ballard tweeted.

Portsmouth resident Tammy Gewehr told Foster's her family was eating dinner at their dining room table, when they felt the rumble. She said her family speculated a big truck had driven past, but she knew differently.

“Growing up in California, I never became accustomed to the earth moving on its own accord and I feel the same way now,” she said.

Somersworth resident Mary Jackson said she ran outside of her home on Bernier Street, afraid it would collapse. She said she was met by many other curious neighbors on the sidewalk.

“We ran outside thinking a plane crashed very close by. All my neighbors came outside. Some thought their heating systems or furnaces (were) blowing up,” Jackson wrote in an email. “I was standing in my dining room when it happened and it was awful. Everything in the house was shaking and it was loud.”

A West Lebanon, N.H., resident, Daniel Dubois, reported he felt the earthquake at his home and Dover resident Patty Cole reported, even though she felt shaking for what she estimated to be about 12 seconds, she moved past the incident fairly quickly.

“I was on the second floor of our house and felt the entire house shake…, ran downstairs to check on the dogs, who were in the garage eating dinner,” she said. “They were just fine. Life goes on.”